Nigeria 'ups power investment'

Some $4.6 billion (£2.83 billion) has been unlocked by the Nigerian government in order to strengthen vital infrastructure in the country.

According to a report in This Day, the funding will go towards achieving 6,000 megawatts of power by the end of the year.

The money will finance various schemes, such as National Integrated Power Projects, Niger Delta Projects and Mambila Power Projects.

A source is reported to have told the news provider that a Power Sector Special Intervention Fund would enable the authorities to reach the December deadline, having been taken from around $9 billion recently withdrawn from an excess crude savings account.

However, earlier this week, This Day said the power strategy Nigeria is about to undertake will "become a mirage" if the government does not solve transmission and evacuation problems stemming from independent power plants throughout the nation.

"One of the major challenges ... is that of the grid which has been failing, thus leading to damages to facilities here," minister of state for petroleum Odein Ajumogobia was quoted as saying.